Jordan Case, high on mushrooms and injured by a gunshot to his left lung, was staggering with his arms raised towards an open police car just moments before a Washington County sheriff's deputy fired a fatal shot to the back of his head, a witness testified Wednesday.

"I think he was just trying to hold onto something," said Sandra Figueroa, who lived in an apartment complex near Tualatin Road where the fatal shooting took place in October 2006.

Jordan Case

Figueroa testified as part of a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Case's family against Washington County sheriff's deputy Glenn Howard. The jury trial, which opened Tuesday in U.S. District Court, seeks unspecified damages against Howard, who, attorneys say, used excessive force in dealing with an unarmed 20-year-old who was too high to do anything purposefully.

The events leading to the shooting started the previous night when Case, a warehouse worker for a local technology company, ingested a large quantity of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

He then left his apartment and entered the unlocked unit of a woman who did not know him. He would not leave despite her pleas and told her that he was high on mushrooms.

The woman, Sally Arellano, then retreated to her 8-year-old daughter's bedroom, pressing her body against the door to keep it closed as she called 911. Case forced his way in, and the two ended up wrestling on the floor with the daughter trying to help her mother. The 5-feet, 2-inch, 120-pound woman was able to pin Case, described as 5 feet, 11 inches and 128 pounds, to the floor. She had started to choke him when police arrived.

Over the next several minutes, the complaint says, police officers who responded to the scene ignored opportunities to take physical control of Case, both inside the apartment and outside. Instead, they used Tasers and a beanbag rifle on him several times, and did not try to take him under control any of the times he lay on the ground, the complaint said.

At one point, Howard used his Taser gun on Case for about 30 seconds. Case eventually stood up and started walking toward Howard's patrol car, which was left running with its lights on and its door open. Howard, who had accidentally Tased himself, then fired his handgun, striking Case in the left side. After sitting down for a minute, Case again stood up and walked toward the patrol car, the complaint said.

Howard then fired the fatal gunshot.

Figueroa's account differs from the police account that Case was reaching into the car to get Howard's rifle. She said he was staggering and did not reach into the car, but draped his body on the open car door.

She had gone to the scene after hearing the initial commotion and watched the encounter unfold from several feet away, she testified, believing that the man being shot by police was a friend of hers.

But under questioning by senior assistant county counsel Elmer Dickens, Figueroa admitted that she had lied to police about part of her story. She said that she initially told police that she was expecting her friend to come pick her up, although that was not true. She said she made up that part because police were pressuring her to say more and she was worried they would detain her longer. She said they already had kept her from returning home to her children for two hours.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks. The Washington County district attorney's office did not take the shooting to a grand jury and did not return a call asking for comment.